When I saw the title I thought, what did Aimee create while under the influence of a great bottle of wine? (Shame on me!) Now that I know better, these are tres magnificent (that's "Franch" for way cool). Hope you have more cool artventures to share this week! :)

indeed they would be more fun to make with a bottle of wine in hand and prattling on in franglais! it is a HIGH TORTURE project with kids involved, not recommended. against my better judgment i gave nina one of the bottles and she promptly squirted it on her lovely hanna andersson dress. this stuff does not come out.

I wonder if I can push our kitchen remodel to the front of the "to do" list? I really love the red/orange/yellow one kind of in the middle. It's my favorite color combination and now I know what to do with the leftover tiles from the bathroom!

Aimee, you rule! I bought a couple of those small tiles at the Bizarre Bazaar one year, wanted more, but the vendor never came back! So glad you figured it out. I LOVE these: love the colors and the free-spirited pattern. Mighty fine job, my friend! Thanks for sharing.

what perfect timing! I'm repainting my kitchen this spring and was just thinking it would be a good time to make a backsplash... these tiles would be absolutely wonderful. so, my question- if i coat them with varnish after, won't the grout ruin the varnish? or does it dry like glass? thanks for sharing!

thanks ladies and welcome zura and trishia! i have not tried to grout them, but after enough coats of sealer i have to imagine it would work. might be worth asking the experts at the tile/home store. or if you want to spare yourself the grief and research, just hang them on a wall in the kitchen and they'll look just the same!

these are so awesome i want to drop everything i'm working on, clear off a space on my desk, and break out those alcohol inks!... this looks like so so much fun... do you have a recommendation on the name of a specific sealer?

I LOVE alcohol inks! I have made lots of ATC's and backgrounds but I have NEVER seen such bold beautiful colorful examples as your tiles. They are wonderful! I HAVE to try this. I usually use a felt applicator so I get a faux granite type look, but I'm gonna ditch it and drip it on. I might even have some tiles lying around. Gorgeous!!! oh, and I love your banner!

Fantastic! What a great idea, tips and wonderful results. Now, I only have to figure how to get hold of the materials ... (what's adirondack ink?)PS I can't seem to be able to leave a comment as through open id ... www.fuoriborgo.com

aimee, these are AMAAAAAZING!! That sounds like so much fun-- I've never even heard of alcohol inks! I always learn something here. :) (And I'm right there with you on the waiting thing. I can't stand it either!)

Whats the best thing to varnish them with so that they are sealed? I really have been looking into doing my backsplash in my kitchen and this would be perfect! I would like to do the little small 1x1 squares I think. Thanks for your help! Great post.

i'm still playing around with different sealers. mod podge hard coat and liquitex gloss medium do the job (make sure you apply the first coat very lightly as reds and purples seem susceptible to lightening if the brushstroke is too firm) but i think i can do better. i'm going to try minwax polycrylic gloss later today and will come back with a report on that.

I can't wait to try this!! Coincidentally the younger daughter and I were marbling paper this week. We love that thrill of serendipity. These tiles are twice as groovy. She's gonna love making them. Thanks!

They look incredible! What are you going to use them for? Unfortunately I am a (very) impatient creator of stuff - which is why my creations look the way they look, I guess. Any project that requires three coats of varnish and expects you to wait for each layer to dry, well, that project is just not meant for me ...

hi everyone!! still here, not drunk although maybe a bit woozy from the varnish. i LOVE the recommendation from SBS to try this on gloss paper - i bet the results would be dynamite. and yes! i think this would be a super project for 14 and 15 year olds as long as they aren't the type to squirt the bottles at each other.

here's the report on the sealer. the minwax polycrylic is OK, like the other two - it does the job but it isn't stellar. a rather thin and fragile finish. i'm looking for a hearty, durable one. if any sealer experts are out there, let me know what kind of varnish really gets you going.

thanks everyone new and old for stopping by! i'm a bit behind this week but will get caught up with bloggy visits over the weekend!

if anyone tries the spray fixative before varnishing, let me know! that might enable the tile to take a thicker lacquer without smudging the ink. but i am just talking out of my backside when it comes to varnish - i am no expert. any handy tips here on that front would be super!

Has anyone tried a spray shellac? My dad recommended it for another coaster project, which i have yet to complete. I'd try, but I don't have the inks and with birthdays and a birth soon on the horizon, I know I won't get to it. You can get the spray shellac at the local hardware store.

These are stunning! I just love the colors! Of course, that might be because it's the middle of winter and I haven't seen anything but gray for weeks. Thanks for sharing! This would be perfect for a class project. I've posted a link.

gm glimmerglass's tiles are super cool, definitely worth checking out! so are joanne's at breathe as me - and she shared a few tips on her varnishing process:

1. after finishing with the tile i let it sit and dry for a while, probably a half hour or more... in fact, the hardest part of all of this process is all the waiting!2. i spray a very light mist (holding the can far away) of Krylon's Workable Fixatif... this step takes some practice... if the mist is too heavy or too close to the tile it can speckle the ink... but on some of my designs, this actually looks kind of cool.. but speckling is kept to a minimum by letting the dry time go a long time in step 1, and holding the can far away from the tile and sort of misting it over the tile... (all done outside of course to prevent my own early demise from fumes)...3. let dry for at least 15 to 20 minutes or more... with each step the longer drying time in between each step the better results i am getting...4. spray a mist (again holding can far away) of Krylon's Matte Finish (different product from #2)... again, wait wait wait...5. repeat step 4...6. then comes the shiny part... I am using Future Floor Wax (which isn't a wax, it's a shiny acrylic finish for floors)... made by Pledge...7. i spread a very thin layer on with a foam brush... it's so liquidy when it goes on there is no chance for brushstrokes to form...it's important to let all the previous steps dry... if they weren't dry, the floor wax will take away the ink.... i learned this the hard way from being impatient...8. step 7 needs to dry completely before even considering a second coat of the floor wax... several hours at least... and while it's wet the floor wax makes it look like there are going to be tiny air bubbles ruining the tile... but when the wax is completely dry the air bubbles magically disappear...9. so far i don't get a super thick acrylic top layer, but the shine is really really pretty, and so i'm good with that...

i like the Future product because it won't yellow over time... in fact, a lot of model airplane and train enthusiasts use it for this reason... some of the other acrylic coatings were rated poorly because of bad yellowing problems...

I tried these out and they were soooo fun! Even gave some as gifts. You were right about drying in between the coats with the water based sealant. I got impatient and didn"t do that at first and it took forever to dry like 2 weeks lol!

I am GOING TO DO THIS! I actually bought some of those tiles this summer because I thought it'd be fun to paint on them, and they've just been waiting, hanging around like they're waiting for friends to come and visit them. NOW I have purpose! Too, I teach a lot of classes and this sounds like something even a non-artistic person can succeed at! Hooray!

Finally the upside of hoarding craft supplies. I have a box of tiles that i bought yeeeeaaaarrrs ago at Salvation Army because i just KNEW i would use them in a craft project (although I didn't know just what, lol.) I've carted them with me through 3 moves with my family saying "what on earth are you gonna do with those..get rid of them" but i just couldn't. Those same family members will just loooove the gifts they get from them now!

When I saw the title I thought, what did Aimee create while under the influence of a great bottle of wine? (Shame on me!) Now that I know better, these are trees magnificent (that's "Frans" for way cool). Hope you have more cool art ventures to share this week! :)Dripping Springs Remodeling Contractor